Snap fasteners for handbags and similar portable articles



March 20, 1962 c. w. B. CHENEY 3,025,135

SNAP FASTENERS FOR HANDBAGS AND SIMILAR PORTABLE ARTICLES Filed Feb. 9, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 INVENTOR CHARLES WILLIAM BLAKE CHENEY, DECEASED BY FRANCIS MARTIN TOMKINSON HOWARD WILLIAM CHENEY GORDON MERRICK SHERWOOD,EXECUTORS March 20, 1962 c. w. B. CHENEY SNAP FASTENERS FOR HANDBAGS AND SIMILAR PORTABLE ARTICLES Filed Feb. 9, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR CHARLES WILLIAM BLAKE CHENEY, DECEASED, BY FRANCIS MARTIN TOMKINSON HOWARD WILLIAM CHENEY GORDON MERRICK SHERWOOD,EXECUTORS United States Patent @fifice 3,026,135 Patented Mar. 20, 1962 3,026,135 SNAPFASTENERS FOR HANDBAGS AND SIMILAR PORTABLE ARTICLES Charles William Blake Cheney, deceased, late of Olton, England, by Francis Martin Tornkinson, Birmingham, Howard William Cheney, Shipton-on-Stour, and Gordon Merrick Sherwood, Birmingham, England, executors, assignors to C. W. Cheney & Son Limited, Birmingham, England, a corporation of Great Britain Filed Feb. 9, 1960, Ser. No. 7,563 1 Claim. (Cl. 292-304) This invention relates to snap fasteners for handbags and similar portable articles, for example, brief cases and document cases, comprising a slotted keeper plate for reception of a manually releasable catch which when received in the keeper plate engages the exterior thereof.

Snap fasteners for handbags are known in which the catch comprises opposite manually releasable spring catches to snap engage over the boundary edge of the keeper plate. This construction has the disadvantage that production and assembly costs are high, and the user is obliged to effect'movement of both catches in opposite directions simultaneously to effect release thereof. Apart from this, the catches are notof robust construction and if the portable-article, such as a handbag, is filled to capacity the consequent bulging of the sides thereof imposes such stresses on the catches that they are likely to become fractured or bent and render the bag insecure.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive construction of snap fastener which avoids or substantially reduces these disadvantages.

According to the present invention a snap fastener comprises a spring loaded rocker consisting of a lever having two arms pivotally mounted on a spigot, a slotted keeper plate adapted to pass over the rocker and the spigot, said rocker being spring driven into an inclined position relative to the axis of the spigot in which one arm of the rocker overhangs an adjacent part of the keeper plate and prevents release thereof, whereas the other arm disposed remote from the keeper plate engages an abutment on the spigot so as to limit the spring driven movement of the rocker, said other arm serving as the operating means for tilting the rocker and permitting the release of the keeper plate.

Preferably, the spigot comprises a hollow, sheet metal pressing having opposite branches between and to which the rocker is pivoted, the branches being connected by a lateral wall providing the abutment.

In order that the invention shail be thoroughly understood two forms of construction of snap fastener according to the invention are illustrated, by way of example, on the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a perspective view of a part of a pouch type hand bag incorporating the invention in which the spigot and rocker are carried on the body of the bag and the eeper loop on a closure flap thereof.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section of FIG. 1 taken on the dotted line IIII to a large scale.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 illustrating the operation of tilting the rocker into a position in which the keeper plate is released.

FIG. 4 is a front view of FIG. 1 to a larger scale, the rocker being broken away for clarity.

FIG. 5 illustrates the snap fastener seen in FIGS. 1-3 applied to a bag frame of another type of handbag;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the second form of construction illustrated in the fastened position.

FIG. 7 is a vertical section of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an exploded view of the form of construction illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7.

Referring to F168. 14 the snap fastener comprises a slotted keeper plate 7 secured to a closure flap 8 of a pouch type hand bag 9, and a spigot 10 secured to the body 11 of the bag. The spigot 10 has a rocker 12, having two arms, which is loaded by a spring 13, the slot in the keeper plate 7 being so dimensioned as to permit it passing over the spigot 10. The rocker 12 is driven by the spring 13 into the snap action closure position (FIGS. 1 and 2) when one arm 14 of the rocker 12 overhangs an adjacent part 15 of the keeper plate 7 thus preventing withdrawal of the spigot 10; another arm 16 of the rocker 12 engages an abutment 17 on the spigot 10 and limits the spring driven movement of the rocker 12. Consequently, if finger pressure is exerted on the rocker 12 in a direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 2, the rocker cannot be tilted to effect release of the keeper plate 7; however, finger pressure exerted in a direction as indicated in FIG. 3 permits of the rocker 12 being tilted into a position of release which allows the keeper plate 7 to pass over the spigot 10 and the rocker 12.

Expressed in greater detail, the spigot 10 comprises a hollow sheet metal pressing having a base plate 18 fastened to an outer surface of the body 11 through a backplate 19. Opposite parallel branches 20 extend from the base plate 18, and the rocker 12 is rockably connected by its opposite sides 12:: to and between the branches on the axis 21. The branches 20 are connected by a lateral top wall 22 the forward edge of which provides the abutment 17 for the arm 16 of the rocker. The rocker 12 is a hollow sheet metal pressing of approximately triangular shape in end view, and its pivotal axis 21 provides a rocker lever having two unequal arms 14, 16 of which the shorter arm 16 serves as the operating means for releasing the rocker. The spring 13, which is of the limb type, is housed in the rocker 12 and in the spigot 10 so as normally to urge the rocker into the snap fastening position, FIGS. 1 and 2. A tail 23 of the spring 13 projects through a slot 24 in the further lateral bottom wall and lies ahead of the base plate 18 and in the rear of the keeper plate 7. This resilient tail 23 is lightly stressed by the keeper plate 7 in the snap fastened position (FIGS. 1 and 2), the energy of the tail 23 serving to impart an initial, ejecting movement to the keeper plate 7 upon release of the rocker (FIG. 3).

It will be observed that the width dimension (FIG. 2) of the rocker 12, is greater than the corresponding dimension of the spigot 10 and keeper plate 7, and that the spring drive 13 constantly urges the rocker 12 into an inclined position in relation to the keeper plate 7, thus ensuring that the arm 14 of the rocker overhangs the adjacent part 15 of the keeper plate 7. When the latter is to be fastened by the rocker as in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rear of the plate 7 is pressed against the rocker 12, the pressure temporarily overcoming the energy of the spring 13 so as to tilt the rocker and achieve the snap overhanging engagement. Release of the snap fastening is achieved by tilting the arm 16 of the rocker 12 about its axis 21 against the spring load 13 as in FIG. 3, thereby aligning the rocker 12 in the spigot 10 and releasing the keeper plate 7 so that it can pass over the spigot 10 and the rocker 12.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the snap fastener described with reference to FIGS. 1-4 is illustrated as applied to a bag frame applicable to the type of bag comprising two alike frames 26, 27, which are hinged on a common axis (not shown), the flexible material 28 of the bag being gripped by the frames 26, 27. The spigot 10 and its spring loaded rocker 12 are carried by an attachment plate 29 connected to the frame 26, and the slotted keeper plate 7 (shown broken away for clarity) is carried by the frame 27; otherwise the snap fastener construction is substantially identical with that described with reference to FIGS. 1-4.

Referring now to FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, the snap fastener illustrated is substantially identical in its essential features with that described with reference to FIGS. 1-5 subject to the following constructional modifications. The rocker 12 is rockably mounted on a pin 30 extending between parallel branches 31 pressed up perpendicularly from an attachment plate 32, the pin 39 engaging coaxial holes 33 in the opposite sides 12a, and coaxial holes 34 in the branches 31; the latter and the plate 32 serve as the spigot 10.

The rocker 12 is loaded by a wire spring 13 and a separate ejector spring 35a, having a tail 35, is provided in the rear of the keeper plate 7 for imparting an initial ejecting movement thereto as above described. A sheet metal housing 36 passes over the branches 31 and the rocker 12, the latter projecting through an opening 37 in the head end of the housing 36. The base of the housing 36 has tongues 38 for clinching it to the attachment plate 32, and further tongues 39 which pass through slits 40 in the body 11, FIG. 7, and are clinched thereto.

The housing 36 virtually forms an integral part of the spigot 10 and the abutment 17, with which the arms 16 of the rocker 12 engages for limiting its spring driven movement as above described is formed integral with the housing 36.

The latter includes opposite end pillars 41 serving as stop abutrnents to the rocker 12 in the event of a force, such as a users hand, accidentally striking the arm 16 of the rocker 12 in the vicinity of the pillars 41.

It will be appreciated that in all forms of construction of the invention, my attempt to release the keeper plate 7 from the spigot 10 without turning the arm 16 of the rocker 12 into the position of release as in FIG. 3, results in further pressing the rocker against the abutment 17.

ease

It will also be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the details of construction described by way of example, and that modification may be made without departing from the basic ideas of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

What we claim is:

A snap fastener comprising a spring; a rocker loaded by said spring, said rocker consisting of a lever having two unequal arms pivotally mounted on a spigot, a slotted keeper plate adapted to pass over the rocker and the spigot, said rocker being driven by said springinto an inclined position relative to the axis of the spigot in which the longer arm of the rocker overhangs an adjacent part of the keeper plate and prevents release thereof, whereas the shorter arm disposed remote from the keeper plate engages an abutment on the spigot so as to limit the spring driven movement of the rocker, said shorter arm serving as the operating means for tilting the rocker and permitting the release of the keeper plate, and ejector spring means arranged at the rear of the keeper plate to urge said keeper plate away from said rocker, said ejector spring means being a tail part of said spring loading the rocker.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 156,828 Taylor Nov. 10, 1874 1,349,344 ONeill Aug. 10, 1920 2,233,278 Aldeen Feb. 25, 1941 2,440,350 Shafer Apr. 27, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 441,679 France June 1, 1912 

